A Special Bond
by CUtopia
Summary: Their friendship had started by coincidence. In the time of despair, he'd become her brother.


Entry for the _Quidditch League Fanfiction Competition_ , Season 5, Round 12 - Wigtown Wanderers vs Wimbourne Wasps

 **Position:** Keeper

 **Prompt:** You'll be writing about two characters in a familial relationship. It does not need to be canonical.

 **Characters:** Neville Longbottom, Ginny Weasley

 **Word Count:** 979

 **Betas:** DinoDina, Aya Diefair

Entry for the _Musical Category Competition_

Wicked: **Boq** \- Alternatively, write about Neville Longbottom

* * *

 **A Special Bond**

There are those kinds of friendships that form just because you're friends with the same people and end up seeing each other at parties or whenever the group of friends is meeting up to hang. It doesn't mean that you don't have anything in common with that other person, just that you probably wouldn't have ended up getting to know them more closely if it hadn't been for the shared friends.

And sometimes, these 'accidental' friendships progress into more than all the people involved would have thought in the beginning, because often, life doesn't take the direct way. Fate loved to use means most unexpected, because the outcome was so much more beautiful sometimes.

For Ginny and Neville, it had all started like this: they'd gotten to know each other because Ginny was Ron's little sister and Neville Ron's dorm mate and they ended up sharing compartments on the Hogwarts Express or sitting close to the 'Golden Trio' during their meals from time to time. When they were both bored, they would chat politely and after some time, Ginny considered Neville a friend of hers too, even though she didn't really remember having had the goal to befriend him. He was just there, and she didn't mind.

Looking back at her school years and especially the blossoming of this particular friendship, Ginny found it amusing and maybe even whimsical how something you could almost call coincidental had made such an impact. Neville had been the friend that had suddenly been there because he'd been dragged along, and now she, who had such a big family to begin with, saw him as something of a big brother. Another one, but yet no less important.

Without them, he maybe never would have met Luna the way he had, they wouldn't have had the opportunity to fall in love, and she, Ginny, wouldn't be standing at their wedding now, being their witness with a swell of pride in her chest. It almost felt like back then when Fleur and Bill had married – only that she actually liked the bride this time – and Ginny was honoured at the thought that she'd played her little part in this.

Sometimes she joked that living in a big family had messed with her brain, causing her to 'adopt' Luna as her sister – the sister she'd sometimes longed for – and sticking with her because she pitied Luna who didn't have anyone else. Of course it hadn't been like that. Ginny thought that Luna was, maybe because of her individuality, a great person, maybe the most honest she'd ever met, and she could always be sure that their friendship was real.

Her bond with Neville was just as deep, if not even deeper, as it had grown in the most desperate of times, when it had seemed that all hope was lost. When Voldemort had been in control of Hogwarts, Harry, Ron and Hermione had been gone and with none of her brothers in school anymore, Neville had been the one closest to family she'd had left. In these times of despair, when the comfort of the castle was ripped from them, she'd had the honour to witness how his bravery and confidence were able to blossom. He'd kept her from losing her hope and prevented her will to fight from extinguishing, pulling her up in the same way only her brother's kind words had managed before.

While organising the resistance of the DA and trying to fight against the injustice and open cruelty that had been brought into the castle by the Carrows, they'd grown closer and closer. His comfort had kept her going, and they'd spent many a nights sitting shoulder to shoulder, staring at the stars and telling each other about happy memories to be able to forget about their situation for some time.

After especially gruesome collisions with the Carrows while trying to protect the younger students from their sadist idea of 'teaching', they tended to each other's wounds, telling each other that this hell would soon have an end. It didn't seem to matter that neither of them could know that for sure, and that all the news that reached them via Potterwatch indicated that the war was only producing more victims while hope was slowly fading. To them, it was only important that they were still doing all they could to show that they wouldn't give in. Surrendering to the darkness was not an option, even though it was hard to gather the courage to stand up again and again, knowing that only pain and punishment would await them.

Doing the right thing wasn't always easy, but they continued to raise their voices.

Ginny didn't know how she'd managed it, but even during the seemingly darkest hour, she'd managed to keep Neville from giving up. Luna had been abducted by the Death Eaters on the Hogwarts Express, and only then did she realise that he'd developed feelings for her. For quite some time he'd been trapped by a lethargy, drowning in guilt and worry, and Ginny hadn't expected her words to have any impact when she'd told Neville that Luna wouldn't want him to stop fighting.

However, it had been the right thing. Slowly, he'd regained his determination and ultimately, he'd learned how to draw strength from the thought that Luna was out there somewhere, wanting him to continue their path of resistance.

Together, they'd been stronger, more courageous and daring, against all odds, and it led Ginny to the realisation that family didn't necessarily require a blood connection. In the time of despair, he'd become her brother.

And now, he was standing next to her, marrying her other closest friend, _sister_ in heart, and she couldn't stop the happy tears from flowing.

Her family kept growing and finding the happiness they'd been fighting for.


End file.
